Operation Clean and Beautiful Nation ( my, ပြည်သာယာ စစ်ဆင်ရေး), officially known as Operation Pyi Thaya in English, was a

military operation A military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operations may ...

conducted by the

Tatmadaw Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...

(Myanmar Armed Forces) in northern

Rakhine State Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady R ...

, near

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

's border with

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. The operation took place between 1991 and 1992, under the

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

of the

State Law and Order Restoration Council State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

(SLORC), officially as a response to the military expansion of the

Rohingya Solidarity Organisation The Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) is a Rohingya insurgent group and political organisation. It was founded in 1982 following a large scale military operation conducted by the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces). The group discontinued it ...

(RSO). Similar to Operation Nagamin (

Operation Dragon King Operation Dragon King ( my, နဂါးမင်း စစ်ဆင်ရေး), officially known as Operation Nagamin in English, was a military operation carried in 1978 out by the Tatmadaw and immigration officials in northern Arakan, Bu ...

) in 1978, the government's official explanation for the operation was to expel so-called "foreigners" from the area, as well as capturing RSO insurgents. The resulting violence however, resulted in 200,000 to 250,000 civilians being displaced (most of whom fled to neighbouring

) and failed to prevent further attacks by the RSO, which continued until the end of the 1990s. In December 1991, Tatmadaw soldiers crossed the border and accidentally fired on a Bangladeshi military outpost, causing a brief strain in

Bangladesh–Myanmar relations The neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Myanmar had a generally frosty relationship under the Burmese military junta as a result of the presence of over 270,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh often served as a major irritant. The civil so ...

References

History of Myanmar Internal conflict in Myanmar Conflicts in 1991 1991 in Myanmar {{Myanmar-hist-stub